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“Aerial flight” plan for HonisterHonister Slate Mine is unveiling groundbreaking plans to introduce a zip wire in the Lake District. (Apr 2010) The proposed “Lancaster Aerial Flight” near to the summit of Fleetwith Pike, would replicate a similar construction that existed at the remote quarry over 80 years ago. It would involve a cable running from a crag called Black Star, a mile back down to the Honister Slate Mine Visitor Centre in the Borrowdale Valley near Keswick. The inspiration came after slate mine owner Mark Weir was looking into the history of the mine’s long-forgotten industrial operations. From books and old photos, he discovered that in 1926, a cable car type-operation called the “Lancaster Aerial,” was built on a steep cliff-face of the mountain (see image right). It was brought in to transport heavy slate “clogs” safely down the mountain and into the Honister factory buildings for processing, as a means of increasing the mine’s turnover and productivity. The “pulley system” made the extraction of slate from the mountain and transportation to the factory far quicker - allowing the mine to prosper. The original “Lancaster Aerial” was installed by White and Son of Widnes. It was in operation at the mine for over a quarter of a century before being dismantled in the 1950s. However, Mr Weir plans a far more 21st century use for the new aerial runway. He hopes to win permission from Lake District National Park planners to allow people to “zip-wire” back down to the Visitor Centre buildings. Every year, the mine already leads groups of visitors to the summit of Fleetwith Pike on its “Via Ferrata” tourism experience. Participants start off from the Honister factory buildings and are then safely secured to the rock face of Fleetwith Pike by carabiner belts. They then hook these to a fixed cable bolted into the rocks running all the way up the mountainside to the summit. They then follow a pathway through the crags once used by Victorian miner’s, reaching the 2,126ft summit using a combination of steel ladders, hand-rungs and metal bridges. A full planning application has been submitted to the Lake District National Park Authority in Kendal and is expected to be discussed at its planning meeting. Mr Weir has consulted extensively with LDNPA officers and Cumbria Tourism as well as seeking advice from historians. He has also consulted with companies which have introduced similar adrenaline-packed tourism experiences in destinations like South Africa and New Zealand.
He has also commissioned an independent noise impact assessment and environmental tests to support the application. A computer-generated animation of how the experience would work, has also been produced to demonstrate the innovative concept. Slate mining has taken place at Honister since the 1700s. Raw slate is extracted from inside Fleetwith Pike and brought down the mountain in lorries for production in the factory. The first slate mined at Honister was in the Roman era. Mr Weir saved the mine – the last working slate mine in England – from extinction in the mid-1990s. In recent years to keep the mine operational and jobs year-round, it has branched out into tourism. Mr Weir hopes that the new “Aerial Flight” would help attract custom to the remote rural valley outside the main tourism season. Due to the peaks and troughs in tourism, the mine has to lay off staff for five months at the quieter end, and start of each year. Mr Weir said: “The Lancaster Aerial Flight would help Honister address the ebb and flow of tourism by retaining more people for longer periods and providing something new and exciting for visitors to try. This is vitally important in such a rural corner of Cumbria where new job opportunities across the valley are rare.” Watch this animated click of the new route!
JOIN our waiting list to reserve your place!! Check out the NEW ROUTE! Watch the original Aerial Flight filmed in 1926 |
